Nature & Environment

Real-life 'Jaws' forces beach closures

By T.K. Randall
January 21, 2015 ·  28 comments

Great whites are responsible for the most attacks on humans. Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 Hermanus Backpackers Located around 160km north of Sydney, Newcastle's beaches are a popular destination for swimmers, surfers and sunbathers.

This month however the region has been plagued by a spate of uninvited guests in the form of great white sharks that have prompted authorities to close beaches down for days at a time.

The largest by far, which has been nicknamed 'Bruce', measures five meters long and weighs the same as two Volkswagen Beetles.

"This great white shark is of a size that has not been seen before around Newcastle," said a council spokesman. "It is not safe for anyone to be in the water.”Bruce is not the only shark to have been sighted in the area this week either - visitors to nearby Nobbys Beach reported a second great white and three more were also spotted near Merewether.

Elsewhere a couple sitting on a wall in Newcastle harbour reported seeing a "dark shadow" approaching them from beneath the water while two fisherman filmed themselves being hunted by yet another great white as it ominously circled their small boat out in the open sea.

Despite the dangers however shark attack deaths are actually still quite rare even in Australia with only one person being killed by a shark each year on average.

Whether or not the risk of coming face to face with one of these prehistoric behemoths however will be enough to keep people out of the water this summer remains to be seen.

Source: The Guardian | Comments (28)

Tags: Shark, Australia